NEW FOREST West MP Sir Desmond Swayne met with the National Deaf Children’s Society and a young deaf campaigner to talk about the future of deaf children’s education.

The meeting took place at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham and discussed key issues affecting deaf children, including vital education funding and the gap in attainment between deaf children and their hearing peers throughout the New Forest.

This comes as deaf children’s services across the country face cuts of £4 million this year.

Jessica Reeves, of National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “It’s great to see MPs like Sir Desmond Swayne coming to meet young deaf people to hear about the daily challenges they have to face. Deafness is not a learning disability and when deaf children get the support they need at school, there are no limits to what they can achieve. However, deaf children in the New Forest are currently falling a grade behind their hearing classmates at GCSE.”